This year marks the 100th anniversaries of The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., and across generations, the two studios created a lasting impact of fond memories over the century.

As a result of both studios releasing an abundance of content over the years, there are endless movies and TV shows for people to claim as their favorites.

While listing favorites like “The Matrix,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “The Batman,” Scott Hallgren, an associate digital media production professor, said he was surprised Warner Bros. is celebrating the milestone anniversary.

“Warner Brothers’ Picture has always been one of the stalwarts, been a lot of fun things,” Hallgren said. “Oh my God, they’ve been doing it since like [1923].”

Hallgren said the experience of seeing “Monster Inc.” in theaters was memorable for him.

“‘Monster Inc. was absolutely lovely,” Hallgren said. “[I] saw that right before my daughter was born with my son when he was little, that was so great.” 

Matt Auman, a sophomore digital media production major and Creator’s Collective film ambassador, struggled to choose a favorite TV show or movie from one of the studios.

“That’s really hard — my favorite Warner Brothers movie is probably the Harry Potter series,” Auman said. “I probably couldn’t pick just one, but those would have to be some of the ones I would look at to be my favorite.”

Sophomore digital media production major Rachel Liggett chose “Big Hero 6” as her favorite Disney after examining its story.

“I think the movie’s story is awesome,” Liggett said. “It has no leading romance as the themes focus more on grief and family. While still having amazing characters and lots of action.”

These studios’ works, such as “Avengers’ Infinity War” and the Harry Potter series, have encouraged students like Auman and Liggett to pursue digital media production degrees, they said.

“Especially the ones I even named Avengers and Harry Potter, of course,” Auman said. “All movies encourage me to go and create that. That’s what got me in this career path that I want to do is these movies and television.”

Warner Brothers’ content also encouraged Liggett to pursue a career in film.

“When I was in middle school, I met Stephen Amell from ‘Arrow’ and I was obsessed with DC comics-based television,” Liggett said. “That likely contributed to why I do [digital media productions] today.”

Both studios have connections to Ohio, as a number of their films were shot in the Buckeye state, Hallgren said.

“By the way, totally cool that ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ was shot in Cleveland,” Hallgren said. “So was ‘Avengers,’ which is basically a Disney movie now, and ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier.’ So we have ties to both of them.”

Since both studios have created movies for 100 years, many have recognized areas both can improve on.

Hallgren said improvement could be made about what stories are being told most frequently.

“I just wish it was more consistent focusing on the human element of things,” Hallgren said, “like continuing to tell stories that don’t necessarily have to have a superhero in them but tell human stories.”  

He said the content from superhero stories that continue to build their worlds can be time-consuming compared to movies and TV shows that do not focus on pre-existing worlds.

“You’re releasing a slate of shows and movies that are supposed to fill out an entire universe,” Hallgren said. “Sometimes you just like to drop into a different world for a day rather than be stuck with having to think of an entire universe for four years or whatever it is.”

Liggett said both studios, which are a part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the official collective bargaining representative for the entertainment industry, can make improvements based on the demands the writers’ strike brought forth.

“Although the writer’s strike has just come to an end, [AMPTP] were called to improve their policies regarding AI and payment for their screenwriters regarding streaming,” Liggett said.

Although improvements can be made, Hallgren hopes for people to remember the joy of going to theaters to watch a movie, he said.

“I think it’s important in an era when we suddenly have all this entertainment at our fingers to remember that before COVID, before streaming, one of the great joys in life was going to a movie theater and having a communal experience with other human beings,” Hallgren said.

Adriana Gasiewski is a staff reporter. Contact her at [email protected].